You might never use it professionally, but it contains a lifetime of lessons. And the hardest problems, the ones that the top engineers are asked to solve, will sooner or later hit some foundational C code.

I believe your generation will do a better job than mine at fixing the problem of gender inequality. So we turn to you. You are the promise for a more equal world. Great leaders don't just develop people like them, they develop everyone. If you want to be a great leader, develop the women -- as well as the men -- at your companies.

Google's multimillion-dollar investment is a bold step in the right direction for a company with a history of innovation. More companies, both in and out of the tech world, should choose to follow their lead and champion diversity and inclusion. If they fail to do so, they risk being left behind.

It needs to be okay for women to fail. We need flawed women whose mistakes represent just that -- their own mistakes. Not reflections upon our entire gender, not held up as reasons for why women aren't meant to be in tech. We need to accept women in this field who want to be here just because it's a great place to be.

The tech industry has surely been guilty of negligence in diversity. It has become a boys' club. But this industry not only tolerates failure but embraces it -- even if it is its own. It has a special word for failure: "pivoting." And tech is now pivoting.

There's nothing inspiring or empowering about two male CEOs taking credit for a young woman's work while twisting the entire purpose from being about reproductive health to being little more than a joke. But a 20-year-old ultrafeminist scientist who's about to launch her own company? That will be something to watch.

Research by industry analysts has shown that in every major geographic region, there is a substantial shortfall between the supply of qualified professionals and the demand for networking and IT skills.

Having been in the country for only a year, and the only one in the family who could speak English, my 16-year-old self was very lost. I felt lonely and hopeless; I didn't know where life would take me next.

The convergence of tech and every major industry presents a fountain of opportunity for entrepreneurs. Those willing to dive deep and take note of systemic issues in need of change, disruption, and innovation will ultimately win.

Satirically or otherwise, the term "brogramming" presents a vision of high tech as a hard-partying, single-sex frat culture. Yes, I get the joke. It's funny because it's ironic. But it's also inane, puerile, and bluntly sexist.